David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I beg the indulgence of the House to express my sympathy to the people of Israel on the death of Shimon Peres, the former President and sometime Prime Minister of that country. I met him several times, the first time being 20 or 30 years ago in Jerusalem. I found him to be a man of extraordinary intelligence and wisdom. He pointed out the centrality of the water problem as one of the big issues behind the whole Middle Eastern situation. He was impressive and was one of the founding fathers of the State of Israel. He was a pupil of David Ben-Gurion and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat.

Peres is seen as a dove but, if so, he was a dove with eagle's talons because he was the architect of the settlement programme which is at the real heart of the divisive problem of Palestine and Israel. He was also the brains behind the nuclear programme which provided Israel with nuclear weapons, even through they have never publicly acknowledged this. It is with mixed emotions that one learned the news of his passing, but one has to understand the feelings of the majority of people in Israel, even though a Palestinian representative would take a very different view of Mr. Peres. However, he was undoubtedly a man of intelligence and wisdom. I think his loss will be felt by the people of Israel.